Description

Scope and Content

Correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, set designs, programs, playbills, and other printed materials and audio recordings. Much of this material came to Columbia in 1994, when the Libraries purchased the contents of Williams' Key West home. The manuscripts include: "Battle of Angels"; "A Streetcar Named Desire"; "The Glass Menagerie"; "Summer and Smoke"; "Now and at the Hour of Our Death"; "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"; "Portrait of a Girl in Glass"; "Hard Candy"; "Orpheus Descending"; "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone"; "You Touched Me"; "Desire and the Black Masseur"; "The Kingdom of Earth"; "The Rose Tattoo"; "The Eclipse of the Sun"; "A Balcony in Ferrara"; "Camino Real"; "The Gnadiges Fraulein"; "A Kind of Love"; "Broken Glass in the Morning"; "Suddenly Last Summer"; and "Tent Worms."

Journals include three notebooks kept from 1941-42, 1944-45, and 1946-47, and a typrscript, with ms. corrections, of "Mes Cahiers Noirs," an unpublished diary ca. 1979.

Typewritten manuscript dating from the early 1940s of two unpublished sonnets; the mimeographed script of the David Frost interview, 21 Jan. 1970; letters to, by, or from: Herbert Machiz, Josephine Healy, Paul Bigelow, Audrey Wood (Williams' agent), Cheryl Crawford, David Diamond, James Laughlin, Glenway Wescott, Charles Feldman, Rose Williams, Edwina Williams, Edwin Dakin, Dakin Williams, and Carson McCullers; the manuscript of 9 poems, one of which "Poem for Paul" does not appear to have been published; set designs by Boris Aronson and Jo Mielziner; portrait of Williams by Leon Kroll; portrait of Rose Williams by Florence Van Steeg; portrait of Edwina Williams by Simon Branders.

Scripts for Two Character Play
; This Is
; Vieux Carré
; A Lovely Sunday For Creve Coeur
; A House Not Meant To Stand
; Now The Cats With Jewelled Claws
; The Youthfully Departed
; A Cavalier For Milady
; The Red Devil Battery Sign
. Also, Tennessee Williams' "Grand"
: a teleplay by Trace Johnson.

Among the programs is one from The Rose Tattoo's
first performance with signatures by Maureen Stapleton, Eli Wallach and others, and a Starless Air
program, signed by Williams, Donald Windham, and Margaret Phillips

There is an extensive manuscript of his "Memoirs" (over 600 pages).

Director's archive for Tigertail.

There is one box of books by and about Williams with annotations by Jay Leo Colt.

For information about Williams' personal library, acquired with the contents of his Key West house, please contact the RBML.

1907-1983. 4 linear ft. The Correspondence series is divided into: Cataloged Correspondence; Dakin Williams Files; Letters from Agents and Publishers; and General Correspondence. The first two subseries are listed item by item. The series consists of letters from friends, family, and colleagues that often deal with Williams' writings and productions.

1907-1959. In Box 1 of General Correspondence. A collection of correspondence to and from Williams and family purchased by Columbia Rare Book and Manuscript Library through an auction house. There are several letters from Williams' parents, from his Dakin grandparents, and a few from or about his sister Rose. The letters shed light on Williams early years including his MGM period and his trip to Mexico.

The Works series is divided into the subseries: Plays and screenplays; Stories and poetry; Other works and related material; Works based on the writings of Tennessee Williams; Biography; Awards, Honors and Celebrations; and Works about Tennessee Williams. The files contain annotated manuscripts, draft pages, scripts, proofs, notes, flyers, programs, certificates and clippings, dating primarily from the 1960s and 1970s.

This subseries begins with an alphabetical listing of prose works, followed by poetry, articles, sketches and interviews. There are annotated pages, manuscripts, proofs, publications, book jackets, a videocassette, sketches, sketchpads and clippings.

1934-1982. 5 linear ft. This material has been arranged alphabetically by author. It includes manuscripts from friends, from aspiring writers, and those sent by agents. There is a collection of material by and about the writer and friend Carson McCullers, several manuscripts by Williams' companion Robert Carroll, short stories by Williams' brother Dakin, and the poetry of Williams' friend Marion Black Vaccaro.

This series contains snapshots as well as professional and news photographs of Tennessee Williams, his family, and friends. In particular, there are many pictures of Williams' longtime companion, Frank Merlo, and of his close friend, Maria Britneva St. Just. There are also photographs of productions and of celebratory events, as well as works by professional photographers and stills from 1950s MGM productions.

Using the Collection

RBML

Access Restrictions

This collection has no restrictions on access.

This collection is located on-site.

Restrictions on Use

Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the Curator of Manuscripts/University Archivist, Rare Book and Manuscript Library (RBML). The RBML approves permission to publish that which it physically owns; the responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.

Permission to make any type of reproduction--photocopies, photographs, scans, digital--of Williams' play scripts manuscripts must be obtained in writing from his estate. Please contact: George Borchardt, Inc. 136 East 57th St., NY, NY 10022. 212-753-5785.

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the Archival Collections Portal and through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, as well as ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

History / Biographical Note

Biographical Note:

Thomas Lanier Williams was born on March 26, 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi. His father, Cornelius, a salesman who was largely absent had a bad relationship with Tennessee, the second of his three children. Consequently, Tennessee was raised predominantly by his mother, Edwina, and maternal grandparents.

His often strained and disturbed family life became the fodder for many of his plays.

After moving to New Orleans in his late 20s, and adopting the name Tennessee, Williams began to write prolifically. His major break came when he won a writing contest and landed an agent, Audrey Wood.

Between 1945 to 1947 two plays by Williams establish his place as a major American playwright: The Glass Menagerie
and A Streetcar Named Desire
. The latter won him a Drama Critics' Award and a Pulitzer Prize. He was awarded a second Pulitzer Prize in 1955 for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
.

Williams went on to produce such critical and popular hits as Summer and Smoke
(1948), The Rose Tattoo
(1951), Camino Real
(1953), Sweet Bird of Youth
(1959), and The Night of the Iguana
(1961). The many works that followed were not understood by the critics of his day and are only now beginning to find and audience. In addition to his two Pulitzers, Williams was nominated four times for the Tony Award for Best Play. He won the Tony only once for The Rose Tattoo
(1951).

Sometime before 1975 Williams produced a frank memoir in which he openly wrote of his homosexuality, alcoholism/drug addiction, and mental illness. This was published in a very modified form as Memoirs
(1975).

Williams died in New York City on February 25, 1983. His plays continue to be produced and enjoyed, a testament to his status as one of the greatest of American playwrights.